How Settlers Warp History in Silwan

On April 24, 2024, the Israeli NGOs Emek Shaveh and Ir Amim hosted a tour of Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The tour explored the “known and unknown realities” and the “way in which the Israeli authorities support Israeli citizens in living in the area in their efforts to change the human and cultural landscape.”

Jerusalem Story correspondent Jessica Buxbaum went along on the tour and filed this report. 

Right across from the Old City of Jerusalem’s southern walls sits an archaeological dig and information center. What appears to be an innocuous tourist site, however, is run by the notorious Israeli settler organization City of David Foundation, also known as Ir David.

In 2002, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) authorized Elad, which is the Hebrew acronym for Ir David, to manage the City of David archaeological site. In Judaism, David is the revered king of the Israelites who conquered Jerusalem in 1004 BC.

“When you have the ability to determine what you’re going to be excavating, you also have an ability to determine the narrative, to decide how this place is going to be presented to the public,”1 said Talya Ezrahi, an external relations coordinator at Emek Shaveh.

In 1974, Israel declared Silwan and its environs as the Jerusalem Walls National Park.2 “Silwan is one of the only examples of a neighborhood located inside a national park, but being inside a national park has greatly restricted the neighborhood’s development, with residents needing permits for even something as basic as planting a tree,” Talya explained.

“What it has meant is that the Palestinians in Silwan have been really frozen in time in terms of what they can do with their houses,” Talya added. “At the same time, we’re seeing settlers and Israeli authorities are more entrenched and their presence is expanded in this area of the national park.”

With the INPA, Elad has continuously grown its park over the last two decades, consuming more and more of Silwan’s land in the process.

“We’ve come to a point where the park itself has been expanded to so many areas in the village [of Silwan] that there are hardly any more large public spaces left for the village,” Talya said. “And this of course, in turn, has implications for the quality of life of the residents.”

Before Elad took over the City of David site, Israeli archaeologist Yigal Shiloh conducted excavations of the area in the late 1970s to early 1980s with Silwan residents working alongside him.

“When Elad came in, they completely excluded the residents from the whole excavation and development processes. So, things just happen here without any consultation,” Talya explained.

Not only are the excavations done without residents’ input, but they are also not archaeologically sound. Elad is excavating in tunnels beneath the Silwan neighborhood, which isn’t standard archaeological practice, because one will only obtain a portion of history through this process and not the entire timeline. The tunnel excavations have also damaged Silwan homes, causing fissures in the foundation and even collapsing walls.3

“They’re isolating one period that interests them and basically turning that into a tourist attraction,” Talya said.

The City of David is awash with Jewish texts and ambiguous signage. Several of the placards contain passages from the Torah, which constitutes the first five passages of the Hebrew Bible, including one about the ruins of a large stone building. Above the biblical reference describing how David’s house was built, the sign reads, “The Remains of King David’s Palace?” There is considerable debate within archaeology over the time period this stone structure belongs to and what it is. Additionally, an architectural capital hangs above the stone ruins—adding a sense of royalty to the site. This capital, however, wasn’t found amid the rubble but rather at a different spot within the archaeological location; its origins are omitted from the sign.

“There’s a reason why this information is so sparse in the text and that leaves a lot of space for interpretation by the tour guides,” Talya said, as she described how Elad guides often recite passages from the Bible discussing King David and the building of his palace.

Talya revealed that the question mark at the end of the sign’s title was the result of Emek Shaveh writing to the INPA and arguing that Elad can’t definitively tell visitors the site is King David’s palace when the matter is under dispute.

“The narrative in this place is determined by the Elad Foundation who are also settlers in Silwan, so they have a very clear agenda to claim this place for Jews,” Talya said.

With money from the INPA, Elad is continuously expanding its operations. Since 2007, Elad has been excavating a site once used as a parking lot for Old City visitors and as a venue for Silwan residents. The excavations have an ulterior motive, however, and are part of Elad’s efforts to build a visitor center that would stand at the same height as the Old City’s walls. This, along with Elad’s plan to build a cable car, would disrupt Jerusalem’s iconic skyline and divert tourism away from Palestinian places toward the City of David, to Jewish settlers and Judeo-centric narratives they have installed there.

“It would reorient tourism to the Old City. Tourists will be encouraged to come here, go through the City of David, and experience a David-centric narrative,” Talya added.